He told Oprah Winfrey he deserves "a good solid B-plus" for his first year in office. The only things standing in his way for that coveted A are -- for the most part -- other people, such as evil Republicans who oppose socialized medicine.
It's obvious that Obama is as self-absorbed as he is delusional. While most Americans are worried about the financial destruction of our country and our resulting inability to bequeath our heirs a land of liberty, Obama is fretting over the stresses the job is placing on him.
"The biggest burden on me right now is that economic growth has happened, but job growth has not happened." Note the "burden on me." Similarly, he said his painfully belabored decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan hit him "in the gut."
Obama insists economic growth has returned and job recovery is just a matter of time, but many are not so sure of either. But all are sure that his unwavering debt path is unsustainable and suicidal.
When the George W. Bush economy was humming for almost eight years, Obama and his media friends gave Bush no credit because, they said, we were experiencing "jobless growth." These partisan charlatans characterized 4.5 percent unemployment as "joblessness." What does that make 10 percent -- especially in light of Obama's promise to keep it less than 8 percent?
Shouldn't Obama be held to the same standard that he and his liberal friends set for President Bush? A June 10, 2007, editorial by George F. Will had it just right: "In 2002, when (Bush's) tax cuts kicked in and the economy began 65 months -- so far -- of uninterrupted growth, critics said: But it is a 'jobless recovery,' (even though) the unemployment rate steadily declined (to) 4.5 percent."
Lawrence Kudlow wrote in 2006 that Democrats who proclaimed a "jobless recovery" in 2003 and 2004 "had to eat crow." "Right now," Kudlow wrote, "total employment in the U.S. stands at a record high of 144 million. This is a big number, just as 4.6 percent unemployment is a low number."
But despite the objectively positive data, liberals wouldn't permit any positive perspective on the Bush economy, to the point that they had convinced 64 percent of Americans (according to a Gallup Poll) that the economy was doing poorly.
National Review Online's Victor Davis Hanson affirmed the liberals' delusional naysaying on economic and foreign policy issues. He wrote: "For some time, a large number of Americans have lived in an alternate universe where everything is supposedly going to hell. If you get up in the morning to read the New York Times or Washington Post, watch John Murtha or Howard Dean on the morning talk shows, listen to National Public Radio at noon, and go to bed reading Newsweek it surely seems that the administration is incommunicado (cf. 'the bubble'), the war is lost ('unwinnable'), the Great Depression is back ('jobless recovery'), and America about as popular as Nazi Germany abroad ('alone and isolated')."
Yet Obama pats himself on the back because "we are on our way out of Iraq," and he thinks "we've got the best possible plan for Afghanistan."
How he can give himself credit for Iraq is beyond comprehension. He vigorously opposed the surge, which everyone acknowledges turned the war around, and he steadfastly refused to admit he was wrong. Our withdrawal from Iraq is only possible because wiser heads prevailed. As for Afghanistan, he ultimately made the right decision to listen to the generals -- partially. He refused to send the number of troops they requested, demoralized our forces and emboldened the enemy in needlessly delaying his decision, and telegraphed our lukewarm commitment to the war by setting a short-term withdrawal date just as he was increasing troop deployments.
How about Obama's restoration of America's image? Well, he's gone around the world telling people how terrible we are -- not exactly the smartest PR move. He's consistently insulted our greatest ally, Britain; a Wall Street Journal article this week notes that he snubbed Britain by failing to mention its support in Afghanistan while touting nations offering less support. He disses our ally Israel, treating it as a terrorist nation and demanding that it unilaterally cease settlements in a portion of its own land.
And how about Obama's promotion of cap and trade in the midst of ClimateGate, his refusal to back down on Obamacare despite 56 percent public opposition, and his plan to spend the billions of TARP repayments while the nation is on the brink of bankruptcy from his spending?
B-plus?
"Delusional" is an understatement.
